Wahine survive in 5

By Cindy Luis cluis@staradvertiser.com

Posted on December 3, 2016 12:05 am
Updated on December 2, 2016 at 10:04 pm

The “No ‘I’ in Team” philosophy came through when it was most needed for Hawaii in the win-or-go-home, season-on-the-line, fifth set of Friday’s NCAAvolleyball tournament first-round contest at the Sports Pavilion.
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Kudos to the Wahine for the win; despite USC’s unbelievable libero. The way Taylor Whittingham kept diving on the floor for balls (and saving them) you’d never know she was wearing a brace for a torn ACL.

What a difference a year made for USC who was the #1 seed overall in last year’s tournament, but this year had to rebuild after losing key players such as 2015 national player of the year Samantha Bricio to graduation. Minnesota on the other hand is again the #2 seed overall and lost just one Final Four player from last season’s squad to graduation. The Golden Gophers have a very balanced attack. For example, all five of their hitters average more than 1.7 kills per set. They are also the lowest error team in the Big Ten–quite impressive considering the top three seeds overall in this tournament hail from the B1G. Thankfully Hawaii still has Nikki Taylor who had 23 kills against USC yesterday, as well as 23 kills against Minnesota in last years tournament. Hopefully Taylor, Maglio and Mitchem will all rise to the occasion and give the Golden Gophers a run for their money. Go Wahine!

Yes, I should have added Burns and Granato. In fact, being that this is a team sport, all their players must rise to the occasion against a team who some say will win this tournament. Apologies for the omission–I was half asleep when I wrote that comment. Go Bows!

Four Pac12 teams out in round one and Kansas first seeded team done.
Wahine have to play good defense today and watch out for the tip balls which i think is one of their weakness.Good luck today and hopefully they can pull an upset and broke the Gophers win streak at home in front of a full house.

It’s tempting to say Wahine have psychological advantage vs Gophers because they’re underdogs, no one expects them to win, thus allowing them to play carefree & loose because they’re just “happy to be here.”

That’s true, to a point.

It’s also an excuse to lose. Not saying Hawai’i must “show” swag. Clowns do that. These Wahine are NOT clowns. More important to feel swag; inner swag; the confidence in your & your teammates’ abilities to beat ANYONE with focus, smarts, never quitting & the neverending quest for perfection, be it possession, set, match, wave or ride. You can always win so long as u believe. Wahine couldn’t win 5-sets earlier in the season. Now they can. Wahine grew, improved, learned to trust.

Gophers put on their shoes like everyone else. They can have bad games, or near-perfect games. And still lose. NU beat them w/effective slides & relentless digs. Wahine have those tools & more. Because when they trust themselves to bring everything & leave same on the floor, Hawai’i will pound Gophers back into their holes.

They all need to play well. One player will not carry a team to the final four and the championship as stated by Nikki, the need to play as a team. A great team has players picking up each other and knowing that someone will get the job done when another maybe having some difficulty and knowing that player will come back and contribute again.

Koelsch, adding a change up at the right opportune time. Sometimes a player sees something that can be successful when the coach may not. No one was expecting it on the Trojan’s side and reason the ball hit the floor with none of them able to get to it. Shoji, need to use Koelsch when a change up is needed to get the opponent to get out of their confident minds and bring in some doubt. Good job Koelsch and good job Shoji for putting her in at that time.

Kendra Koelsch dump shot!!! That was the turn around play/direction for the Wahine in that 5th Set! I could feel the momentum shift! Also Nikki Taylors aggressive play during that 5th set was also noticeable and ultimately demoralizing for USC. Imua Wahine!!!! May your Focus/play overwhelm the Minnesota Golden Gophers.